Lily in the Valley
Allison Russell
language
(Allison Russell, March 30, 2015)
After The Great Decline in female births, the countdown to extinction begins. Seventeen-year-old Lily was the last female ever born. Having led a sheltered life on a remote mountaintop, she is completely unprepared to survive on her own after her caretaker is savagely murdered. Her only survival skill is the extreme fear of outsiders he instilled in her. Out of options, she travels down the mountainside searching for help. The last remaining city, Shell Valley, has been fortified and closed to outsiders for years. But Shell Valley is not as immune to danger as it seems from the outside. Political unrest and a violent street gang plague the city. Inside lives nineteen-year-old Abbott, a victim of childhood abuse who harbors a terrible secret. Fearing others may discover his secret, he chooses to live in isolation and never speak again. When Lily breaks into Shell Valley, its leader recruits Abbott to guard Lily with his life. He reluctantly accepts his new role of bodyguard, a position made increasingly more difficult once Lily begins sneaking off to explore Shell Valley on her own. Despite coming from opposite worlds, Abbott and Lily forge an unbreakable bond, but can their love be the clue to saving all of humankind?